A newly published book by University of Memphis Spanish professor Fernando Burgos
was presented at an international symposium in Panama this summer. Un lector y un escritor tras el enigma: la narrativa de Enrique Jaramillo Levi (A Reader and a Writer in Pursuit of the Enigma: The Narrative of Enrique Jaramillo
Levi) was published in June by the Institute of National Culture of Panama. The book was
presented at the “Fifty Years of Writing International Conference on the Literary
Contributions of Enrique Jaramillo Levi” in July. The book is a critical revision
of the key postmodern fundaments that have characterized Jaramillo Levi’s writings
since the publication of his collection of short stories Duplications in 1973.

Fernando Burgos and Fatima Nogueira.

Burgos and Fatima Nogueira, assistant professor of Spanish at the U of M, delivered
two papers at the symposium. Participating scholars were from Guatemala, Mexico, Panama,
Spain and the United States. The event was sponsored by the Technological University
of Panama and the National Institute of Culture.

The two U of M faculty members were among fifteen scholars selected to speak on Jaramillo
Levi’s work. The conference was by invitation only, based on the significance of the
contributions that scholars had made in their research focused on the Panamanian author.

“I was impressed by the enormous level of discussion generated by the presentations,”
Burgos said. “It was one of those rare occasions in your academic career in which
you receive an invitation abroad and all the expenses are paid for by the organizers,
including airfare, stay, food, and tours to historic sites in Panama.”

Added Nogueira, “We did not have to request any money from the University of Memphis
or pay from our own pocket. It was indeed an honor for us to represent the University
of Memphis as well as having the opportunity to share our research with other experts
in the area of Latin America studies.”

The event was open to all members of the Technical University and to the community.